George trial: June 1

Those in attendance at the Robert George trial today got a quick lesson on the rules of impeachment in federal court.

The high-profile Boston attorney is accused of conspiring to help a former client, Ronald Dardinski, launder money. Dardinski, a paid government informant who has netted nearly $75,000 from the feds over the years, was on the stand for his third day of testimony. Dardinski’s testimony and the recorded conversations he had with George are two of the most important pieces of evidence in this case and will go a long way towards deciding guilt or innocence.

Based on the events of the last few days, however, the authenticity of Dardinski’s story is now being seriously called into question. On direct examination, Dardinksi testified he had a “chance encounter” with George at the South Shore Mall in Braintree that set the wheels in motion for the money-laundering scheme. His cross-examination began with the former mob money collector testifying that he never threatened to smash George’s head in. He also said he had never told anyone he would find the lawyer at his house or send leg-breakers to take care of him, but that he simply randomly met up with George at the mall and was asked by the lawyer whether he was interested in laundering money.

At that point, defense attorney Robert M. Goldstein confronted Dardinksi with a series of recorded phone calls the 47-year-old witness made while serving time in a Martha’s Vineyard jail prior to the mall encounter. Those phone calls directly contradicted his trial testimony and made for some highly dramatic, tense moments on the stand. Dardinski may have broken bones during his mob days, but today, he was the one taking a beating at the hands of a highly prepared Goldstein.

During a break in the action, clearly flustered prosecutor Laura Kaplan told U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton that the defense had unfairly sprung the recorded tapes on her. She said she had no notice of the tapes and no opportunity to investigate their veracity. Goldstein countered that Kaplan was absolutely right, but under Federal Rule of Evidence 613, the defense was not required to show their cards to the prosecution and had no intention of doing so prior to trial. The tapes are relevant, Goldstein said, on the issues of impeachment, bias and motive. It’s hard to argue with him on that one.

While the federal court is hardly a warm and fuzzy place to do business for a criminal defendant, this impeachment issue may be one of the few times when the federal law is more favorable than the state. If the same issue arose in Superior Court, the Supreme Judicial Court’s 2006 Commonwealth v. Durhamcase would require defense counsel to provide the prosecution, prior to trial, with any witness statements that might be used in cross-examination. Not so at the Moakley Courthouse.

Goldstein’s co-counsel, Kevin Reddington, is no stranger to unearthing jail tapes to use on cross-examination. Just last month, he utilized them in a big way during his representation of a prosecutor in Bristol Superior Court who was accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old-woman inside a courthouse conference room. The tapes helped secure a not guilty verdict.

Michael W. Verronneau of MWV Multi-Media Forensic Investigative Services in Fall River, a former long-time Bristol County District Attorney employee, is overseeing the visual interactive presentation of the tapes and evidence for George. He was also a member of the defense team on the Bristol trial and is getting quite familiar with the different ways to present jail tapes to a jury.

The courtroom was packed today. By 11 a.m., court officials were turning people away at the door.

Those who saw the trial of now convicted former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi were treated to classical music any time the lawyers went to sidebar. Although there have been few sidebar conferences in the early stages of this well-tried case, Gorton’s courtroom handles them differently, drowning out the conversation with background fuzz noise.

Unlike many federal trials, which end at 1 p.m., this case is going until about 3:30 p.m. every day. There will be no trial on Tuesday because Gorton has to handle a case in Springfield.

2 comments

Will the government now charge Dardinski with Perjury seeing that he lied over and over again under oath ? What about the G-men, were they led down this path by an unscrupulous informant or are they a party to all the lies ?